The “environment” is coming back. While the previous Administration reduced funding to enforce environmental rules, this one has restored funding and has reversed many of the rules that had been made more lax. Maybe more important is with the growing concern with health caused by the pandemic and the reduced air quality from the Canadian wildfires, it is more important than ever for a company, a building, big or small, to elucidate a concern and policies resulting in a positive, healthy environment for people to live or work in. An environmental policy is a statement, putting into words such sentiments. While voluntary, it can go far to provide common goals to attain and enable stakeholders to feel comfortable, help you be aware of your compliance status of applicable laws, reduce incidents that result in liability, and provide a common front.

There is no standard format for writing an environmental policy, but it is still important that you plan it carefully. For buy-in from Management it is important to  emphasize key benefits such as cost reduction, improved risk management and marketing.

One approach in an environmental policy is to show an environmental history of the business, particularly emphasizing gains made in recent years. Another approach is to benchmark your facility comparing environmental achievements to similar businesses.

Here are a few basic rules to follow:

• keep the statement short – no longer than one sheet front and back
• make sure it is not too technical and can be easy for all to read and understand
• focus the policy on your company’s achievements and practices, not general ones
• ensure the policy document is signed by the #1 person, the owner, to show its standing
• ensure the policy is well communicated (website, bulletin boards, newsletters, etc.)

As you compose your environmental policy, start out with the business mission and how its products help people, while having minimal impact on the environment. Focus on the specific aspects of the business that affect the environment and their potential impacts. Depending on what the company does, these may include air quality, recycling of packaging materials, minimizing waste, clean transportation, minimizing usage of organic solvents, and minimizing noise. Don’t include less applicable issues. The policy should contain commitments to continually improve your environmental performance, to effectively monitor and manage the company’s specific environmental impacts, and to always be in compliance with applicable environmental regulations.

After you state the company’s environmental commitments, it is important to discuss how these commitments will be achieved, discussing concrete efforts in employee training in environmental issues, determining targets and goals, monitoring progress and reviewing performance against these targets.

It may be useful to either integrate your environmental policy with other policies on health and safety, corporate social responsibility or sustainability or dovetail principles between those policies.

Remember, businesses live in a dynamic world. It’s critical to review your environmental policy on a regular basis to assume nothing is outdated or that it is improved to include new conditions.

CCES has the experts to help you develop, draft, or review your environmental policy and help implement your program to get the most out of it, maintain compliance, and show stakeholders your concern. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.